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Hello everyone,

Previously, I shared a trip report/safari in southern Tanzania in June 2024, in the Mikumi and Selous reserves. This time, still in southern Tanzania, I invite you to join us in the Ruaha Reserve.

In this story, written by Richard and illustrated by me, we’ll take you through the journey of four friends: Catherine, Richard, Nathalie, and Bruno. A reinvented but overall successful trip, filled with discoveries and surprises, the scents of spices and frangipane flowers, food that was (way too) spicy, sunsets, and... one major hassle.

Mark your calendars: from March 26th to 28th, the MEETT in Toulouse turns into base camp for all adventure enthusiasts. At My Atlas, we wouldn’t miss this for the world!

This monastery is stunning and houses immense treasures. It’s located at the tip of the peninsula near the Mekong. It’s one of the most beautiful in Luang Prabang. The temple walls are covered in mosaics. Its façade is gilded on a richly decorated red background.

A must-attend event for all adventure and discovery enthusiasts: My Atlas will be back at the Occ'ygène festival in Toulouse from March 26 to 28, 2026! Just like last year, we’ll be partners of the Les Rencontres Voyageurs space—a place for authentic exchanges between globetrotters, adventurers, and dreamers from around the world.

If you're planning your trips for 2026, Bruno Maltor's latest video should interest you.

We’ve noticed we’re having issues with sending out the newsletters. Could those of you who signed up to receive it let us know if you didn’t get the December 2025 one?

In 2026, traveling becomes a choice. While the same destinations are buckling under mass tourism, there are still preserved alternatives—often just a few hours away from the well-trodden paths. This guide doesn’t ban any countries but instead suggests different approaches and destinations that still have room to breathe.

The next day, it's pouring rain when we wake up, but after a good breakfast, the rain has calmed down... off to the medersa, which allows for a relatively sheltered visit. We had visited this palace 15 years ago—it’s been renovated since then.

After sharing some safari photos from southern Tanzania, I’d love to show you the ones from our latest safari in Kenya in October 2025.

Not usually a fan of organized trips, during my stop in Labuan Bajo on Flores in May 2024, I started looking for a fisherman who could show me the islands around Komodo. At the port, I met Ari, a former spearfisher who knows the islands well—especially the best spots for fish and coral.

The plan: adventure (sporty activities, site visits), naps on the beach interspersed with swims, incredible natural sites, and a bit of culture.

So I arrived in Berlin at night in the fog, and today the city was still a bit misty. I'm staying near Alexanderplatz, and the top of the TV Tower was hidden in the fog—it's perfect, it matches exactly the cliché I had of Berlin: a gray and cold city!

It’s busy today because it’s Sunday and Moroccans, especially from Casablanca, come here to spend the weekend. In town, the café terraces are packed with people having breakfast—msemens (flaky pancakes) spread with kiri and honey. Every café has little stalls on their terrace to cook these delicious pancakes, and we can’t resist buying some for our lunch...

Here’s my feedback from my trip to Slovakia this summer. It’s a really great destination, still off the beaten tourist track, and perfect if you love historic sites and hiking. Budget-friendly too!

I was a little worried that this new visit to Uncle Sam’s country wouldn’t be as "wow" as the others, but we still discovered some extraordinary places. For those who don’t know us, we’re a couple in our seventies who speak very little English, but that didn’t stop us from fully enjoying our stay. For this 6th road trip across the USA, we spent 21 nights there and covered 4,160 km by car and nearly 160 km on foot in a loop starting from Phoenix.

During our walk in Higashiyama, we happened to stop by Café Kikaku, run by a former geisha. A lovely encounter with this colorful person who—while we waited for our lunch—shared some facets of the geisha art with us (music, fan handling, dice games). A truly wonderful moment.

It’s time to catch up with the VF buddies and wish you all my best for 2026—a year I obviously hope will be full of travel for you, since, as the saying I just made up goes: "If travel’s good, everything’s good" 😄.

So to celebrate, I’m inviting you to my new "travel journal," the one from our last trip in November 2025, which lasted a couple of weeks.

Here’s my account of our trip to Thailand with my partner from November 22 to December 5, 2025. First off, I’d like to wish all the VoyageForum.com users a very happy 2026, full of joy and amazing discoveries on your travels! It’s thanks to the tips I gathered on this site that I planned the trip.

Dear members, dear travelers, The whole team sends you our best wishes for this new year. We hope you’ll have unexpected journeys, light backpacks, and above all, that joy of sharing that keeps our community’s heart beating.

We left as a couple from October 20 to December 11, 2025, for our second trip to India, and our first time in Rajasthan, plus Mathura and Agra, which are in Uttar Pradesh but right on the border, and a 4-day flight hop to Varanasi.

Back then (reminder: 1987), I volunteer in Paris at the counter of the Rue Des Ecoles agency for a fairly well-known travel association at the time, whose headquarters are in Mulhouse. They mainly offer scheduled dry flights to Asia, charter flights to the Mediterranean basin, and flights to Mali with their own plane.

Nisyros is a stunning little Greek island, and luckily, it’s well hidden. Located a good twenty hours by boat from Athens, its distance from the Greek mainland puts most tourists off visiting. That’s what makes it such an off-the-beaten-path destination.

To build on our discussions here, we’ve decided to launch a WhatsApp mutual-aid group. The idea’s simple: provide an instant communication channel for anyone who needs reliable info right away.

Yes, you might be surprised: my first trip to Iceland was back in July 1974. It’s been a little over 50 years since I first set foot on Icelandic soil. I was 23 years old. I was studying geography at the time, in that distant era.

Spitsbergen, 80° North latitude. An archipelago lost at the edge of the world, northeast of Greenland, the last lands before the pole. I’m on board the *Grigoriy Mikheev*, a Russian ship from the Murmansk Polar Research Institute. Russian flag, Russian crew. Chartered by OceanWide Expeditions.

100% sunshine and temperatures between 25 and 35°C depending on altitude. No stress—Jordanians definitely live up to their reputation as a charming, helpful, and funny people. No hassles or solicitations, no pushy sales... In short, pure joy sharing time and laughter with them.

I just got back from a trip to Morocco and I want to share my experience of the few days I spent in the Happy Valley (it’s also called the Ait Bouguemez Valley—same place!) I’d contacted my guide Youssef, whose info I found here on VoyageForum.

Continuing the trip!

From Waterberg to Mapungubwe.

The roads in this area aren’t great. I should’ve taken the N1 and gone through Musina... Thunderstorm on the road... 60 km to go, hazard lights on...

Last year, I accidentally discovered a "nature reserve" in the Waterberg by sheer chance. Just one night, but I was so thrilled that I went back this year for 3 nights. It was perfect for breaking up the trip between Marakele and Mapungubwe.